Wednesday, March 6, 2013

$H*# Son of $H*#

Imagine having that name. Basically crappy son of the crappy (not sure if I'm allowed to say what it really means, but that's pretty accurate). Having that name would be absolute torture. I shiver just thinking about it! What's interesting about "The Overcoat" to me, is that the narrator always refers to him as Akaky Akakievich. Never does he simply say Akay, or Mr. Akakievich. It's like adding salt to a wound or oil to fire. Over and over.

So, it got me wondering. Why do that? Why would author, Nikolai Gogol stress his absolutely terrible name repeatedly? So I started thinking of the general purpose of this passage. Sure, Akaky does his job perfectly over and over again, but he is so underdeveloped that when he is asked to do work which "consisted only of altering the heading and in places changing the first person into third," (Gogol 308) he opts out because it would take "so much effort".

So clearly, this guy isn't the most motivated. But, I try to understand all sides of the story. Should Mr. Akakievich be repeatedly referred to as his full, dismal, name, every time? Maybe not. But through this action, Gogol does give the connotation that Akaky isn't necessarily a great man.

In conclusion: yes, the repetition does implement the idea that Akaky is basically a loser to put it bluntly, but not, he I wouldn't think that he should be called his name repeatedly.


Come on, father of Akaky. That's not cool.

1 comment:

  1. You're right to note just how often Gogol mentions Akaky by his formal name--why do you think he does that? Is it just to reinforce what a loser he is, or is it to show how insignificant an individual can be in a society that's all about rank and hierarchy?

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